International Journal of Bilingual
Education and Bilingualism
Editor: Colin Baker, University of Wales, Bangor
Review Editor: Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University, Philadelpia
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Volume: 7 Number: 1 Page: 43–61
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Living in Simultaneous Worlds: Difference and Integration in Bilingual Script-learning
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Charmian Kenner
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This paper proposes that young children who are growing up in a bilingual and biliterate environment may, at a fundamental level, experience their worlds not as separate linguistic and cultural entities
but as 'simultaneous'. The data comes from a study of 6-year-olds in London who were learning to write in Chinese, Arabic or Spanish as well as English. Whilst being able to differentiate between their
two writing systems, the children also sought connections between multiple systems of representation. They saw graphic symbols as 'signifier material' which could transform in meaning across systems. When
making a text, the children had an expanded range of semiotic resources from which they could choose in order to represent and construct their identities as writers. The paper discusses how children's use
of graphic representation showed that they were able both to maintain difference and to achieve integration.
Keywords: BILITERACY, SCRIPT-LEARNING, BILINGUAL IDENTITY, CHINESE, ARABIC, SPANISH
© Multilingual Matters 2004
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